Pubdate: Wed, 31 May 2006
Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Victoria News
Contact:  http://www.vicnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1267
Author: Don Descoteau, Victoria News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DRUG POLICY TO BE DEBATED AT SYMPOSIUM

Steve McDougall remembers well having to be literally  "scraped off 
the floor of a divy little apartment on  Wark Street" before he could 
get on the road to  recovery from heroin addiction.

He considers himself lucky to have a caring family to  help him stay 
on the road to recovery and place him in  a long-term detox facility, 
but said many people don't  have that luxury. The system in many 
cases, is failing  them, he said.

"The state of treatment - even the state of  availability of detox - 
are pretty close to criminal,"  he said. "The fact that someone who 
wants to get clean  has to wait three weeks to get a bed - so much 
can happen in three weeks."

McDougall is a member of a new community coalition  known as Voices 
of Substance. He'll be among the  panelists taking part in a day-long 
symposium this  Friday entitled The Costs of Doing Nothing: 
Looking  Beyond our Current Approaches to Substance Use.

Guest speakers from the health-care, police, business  and sex-trade 
sectors will trade viewpoints with a  selection of panelists from 
equally varied groups to  get a sense of the current state of 
treatment and what  direction could be taken to improve the situation.

Standing still is not an option when it comes to  helping substance 
abusers in Greater Victoria get  healthy, McDougall said.

"The whole thing about harm reduction is that you can't  save a dead 
addict. You can't offer them recovery," he  said.

McDougall said from his perspective, having healthy  choices 
available for addicted individuals is the key  to healing. A problem 
in past has been a "misdirection  of resources," with not enough 
emphasis on working with  addicted individuals to find out what they need.

"So much money would be saved by putting people through  treatment 
rather than putting them in jail," he said.  "I don't think I would 
have had a chance at recovery  had I not been in a treatment place 
that was longer  than 28 days."

Voices of Substance member Connie Carter, a University  of Victoria 
doctoral candidate and former administrator  for addictions research, 
said the goal of the seminar  is to spark dialogue.

"We can't develop social policy without input from the  people who 
will be affected by that social policy," she  said. "I'm hoping we 
can all come together and see each  other's perspectives in a new 
light. Education can  change people."

The symposium runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the  Ambrosia Catering 
and Events Centre, 638 Fisgard St.  For more information, call 
361-050 or go to  http://www.voicesofsubstance.ca.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman